Wow! A proper football league stadium's taking shape in them there hills at Halifax – two new stands are almost ready, one with executive boxes and everything. All for the Unibond 1st Division North!
For Salford City supporters this is like going to Wembley, and all two dozen of us are crammed right at the top of the huge terracing behind the goal, where we proceed to out sing well over a thousand smug Halifax supporters expecting their easiest win of the season. Even their Fox mascot…
…hold on a sec…what the fox has a fox got to do with Halifax? Isn't that Leicester City's mascot? Foxes don't spring to mind when you think of Halifax…sheep, maybe…but foxes? Nah. They should have a mill chimney stack as a mascot…a bloke in a comedy chimney stack outfit, waving at everyone and blowing blue smoke out the top of his head…definitely…we could go with that…
Anyway, even their fox mascot…
…has it got a name, their fox? Like Halifox, or something? If it's a fox 'cos the club's name has got an `f' and an `x' in it that's really crap…They could have had a fax mascot…Halifax…A big piece of paper walking round with a grin on its face…or is that too 80s? A fox still don't seem right…
Anyway, even their fox mascot had a kind of sly, confident swagger to it…But Salford could have wiped the grins off their faces, had we not completely foxed it up in the first half…Aaah, maybe that's why it's a fox – lends itself to all sorts of bad puns…like, `for fox sake Salford sort that defence out'…which leads on nicely to the Christmas puns…about presents and stuff…
The first goal comes 15 minutes into the game after Grant Shelton, taking over from Ammies number 1 Andy Robertson, pushes a shot straight to an onrushing, James Dean who gleefully crashes it in. A Christmas gift from Salford to Halifax.
But City could well have equalised a couple of minutes later, Craig Mahon's goal bound chip being saved one handed by the Halifax keeper, palming it out for a corner. After that the first half is all Christmas clichés…turkeys, stuffing and such, as first a defensive header is put on a festive plate for a Halifax forward to knock in the second, and just before half time a shot from the edge of the area is waved into the net by Grant Shelton, who thinks it's going wide. Three tangerine gifts from Santa Salford.
So let's talk about half time… A great stadium going up but you can't hear the p.a. system and worse still, you can't get a drink 'cos the bar's closed. What's the point of that? No wonder the Halifax fans are so quiet – no bevs. Give us the portakabins at Moor Lane any time with councillor John Deas serving up the beer (by the way, he's currently starring in the Christmas McDonald's adverts, marching to the crap food palace wearing a dickie bow and a huge brass sousaphone – not to be missed!)…
Anyway, the second half kicks off, and four minutes in, Salford's Domaine Rouse hits a wicked shot that thumps against the post so hard you can hear the thwack way up on our terrace at the other end of the ground. The post is still shuddering ten minutes later when Halifax toe poke the fourth. And it's still shuddering when Halifax get the fifth, and James Dean's second in the 75th minute. And then the comeback begins…
Almost from the kick off a wave of Salford attacks culminate with debutant Harry Winter wacking in the best goal of the game, a curling shot from outside the box. Yes it's a cracker!!! Cue the Salford Great Escape anthem…and `We're goin' to win 6-5'…and `We're only just warming up'…etc etc...
5-1 down and fifteen minutes left – anything can happen! Unfortunately it doesn't, apart from a head butt on Rhodri Giggs and a red card for a Halifax bruiser, and another goal from the excellent James Dean to complete his hat trick.
So 6-1 down and five minutes to hang onto a scoreline that's better than last year's 7-1 at the Shay. The whistle blows and Salford have done it – improvement indeed! And, believe it or not, apart from the two gifts, our goalie's had a great game…
For Halifax and their fox it's now surely a relentless chase out of the Unibond First Division North and into the dizzy heights of the Unibond Premier, where they're sure to fill all those executive boxes. A bit of advice – sort out your sound system, sort out your half time bar, sort out your flat atmosphere…and ditch the fox for a chimney stack with blue smoke coming out of its head…it's a winner…
Meanwhile Salford continue to try and get that elusive first home league win of the season against Mossley on Tuesday night…
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